Fans suggestion thread for future releases

[Cohors_Evocata]

Here is the export_descr_unit file with doubled unit costs and maintenance cut by half: http://m.uploadedit.com/ba3s/1478689231361.txt

I did it manually. Mistakes are likely, but I'd be very surprised if any were larger than two digits. I also doubled the cost of bodyguard maintenance instead of halving it, but client ruler maintenance remains the same. Fixed a typo in the process ('houshold' to 'household' something).

As much as your effort is appreciated, the EDU in the current dev build isn't what was released a few months back, so just using what you uploaded will be difficult, not to mention we'd need some internal discussion on whether we want to make use of your suggestion. Nevertheless, my thanks for your work.

[Warpus]

As much as your effort is appreciated, the EDU in the current dev build isn't what was released a few months back, so just using what you uploaded will be difficult, not to mention we'd need some internal discussion on whether we want to make use of your suggestion. Nevertheless, my thanks for your work.

Wasn't as grueling as I thought it would be. I'd do it again when 2.2c comes out, if you like.

[Metaluis90]

Warpus, how did your custom EDU affect AI's recruitment?

[Warpus]

Warpus, how did your custom EDU affect AI's recruitment?

I have no idea since I haven't left Britain yet and I don't know enough to judge from the graphs. Sooner or later I'm going to post them with thirty turn intervals, along with screenshots of the minimap.

EDIT: I just looked at the graphs at turn thirty-three and the factions don't seem to be doing too badly, aside from a couple whose power recently declined by half (probably due to a lost battle- it's tough to rebuild armies under my rules). The Seleucids are the only outlier, having not only expanded but increased their power by about 50%. I suspect this is a result of them starting the game with a lot of units, but your guess is as good as mine.

[James the Red]

Malta is in the same province as the Carthaginian part of Sicily, right?

Since the minor settlements are now trade icons instead of PSFs, maybe move Carthaginian Sicily's port to Malta and put a minor settlement where the port was on Sicily. This would make Malta a strategic point by being a spot that can be blockaded.

[myarta]

I've never noticed the economic effects of a single port blockade to be particularly relevant once you have several provinces. Also the port at Lilibeo is very useful for landing generals and armies to/from the crossing to Tunisia.

[James the Red]

I've never noticed the economic effects of a single port blockade to be particularly relevant once you have several provinces. Also the port at Lilibeo is very useful for landing generals and armies to/from the crossing to Tunisia.

How about putting a watchtower there then? Can a 'minor settlement' and a watchtower both fit on Malta?

[tomySVK]

I played few turns as Bosporan Kingdom on my new PC and I guess that Bosporan bodyguards are only placehonders. I found a great picture of Hellenistic warrior with mix of Hellenic, Nomadic and Celtic equipment. I think it will be great and unique as Bosporan bodyguard unit:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[QuintusSertorius]

We do have a finished concept for the Bosporan Bodyguard; they just haven't been made yet.

[LusitanianWolf]

I have two suggestions that could perhaps make the game more dynamic and balanced, relieve the need of a recruitment restrition script and decreasing stack spam without crippling smaller factions.

#1
Make "capital/homeland" type (and maybe the best top tier governments) rare and very expensive but with good recruitment options and make unit replenishment in other government types and poleis much much slower. The idea is that most of the recruitment would have to be done in one or two core recruitment centers and then having the need to mobilize the armies to the battlefront while recruitment in other provinces whould be possible but be much more rare and occasional. Defending and expanding as a large empire would be much more difficult and losing a large battle far away in the edges of the realm would be much more painful than fighting close to the inner homeland (where troops would be more readily available). And lost of a capital would be much more meaningful and possibly crippling. (Maybe a script to rebuild a capital government in the new one after several turns would be needed for the AI in the future).
Eventualy allied governments could have a medium replenishment rate but have higher costs and lower public order, especialy in higher tiers (to represent them being minor factions that could struggle for more autonomy and independence as their power grows.
Also since mercenairs would be much more crucial, especialy for longer expeditions there would be a greater diferentiation between campaign dificulties (since the AI only recruits them in h/vh)


#2
Another simpler hipotesis would be to make unit costs much more expensive and giving traits to influencial faction members to largely decrease the recruitment costs (especialy to the FL and FH). Ex: units cost x4, regular FMs 25% discount, FH 50% discount, green FL 75% discount, established leader FL 90% discount.


I will do my own experiences when I have enough time but if the team or anyone else enjoys the ideas feel free to use them (since I'm not yet experienced at modding - but learning a bit)

[Balkan Beast]

I'd like for the map colors of the Lusotanne and Makedonians to be changed. Their discovered territory looks the same as the undiscovered when you're not in range, unlike the other factions.

[Balkan Beast]

Also it'd be nice if like EB I there was a loincloth version of the naked units.
Didn't see a edit button.

[z3n]

You'd force the artists to go through all of that again ?! Their poor eyes.

[wermez]

Please add pubi hair to naked units.

[Pooploop]

EB2 team, I don't know if this is already implemented in the current release (waiting for 2.3 - no placeholder generals by then I hope) but wouldn't the game be more engaging if it would have far longer and riskier assimilation of newly conquered settlements and more frequently spawned large rebel stacks? Reading the forums, it seems players would have a far more "rewarding" experience if they were to slow down on inflicting punishment on enemy factions. However, sitting there in your settlements and reading the texts of the various buildings or units while gleefully anticipating larger tax yields would get tedious after a while. A player plays M2TW for the action of commanding armies in real-time, so "training" your units and generals on actually dangerous rebel stacks would give that thrill, combined with acquiring possible better traits for your favorite officer, while not disrupting the political balance.

On the "assimilation" thing, what I mean is that unless you've butchered the population of a particular settlement, holding it with anything less than 5 regiments should be impossible. For a period of 2 decades from the time it was conquered, it should be unlikely to have a citizenry with "green" levels of contentment. Unless the governor is extremely competent OR the new administration is of the local people's culture, revolts must happen in that town. This will slow down rapid invasion and provide possible new enemies for the player to test his skill on.

[QuintusSertorius]

EB2 team, I don't know if this is already implemented in the current release (waiting for 2.3 - no placeholder generals by then I hope) but wouldn't the game be more engaging if it would have far longer and riskier assimilation of newly conquered settlements and more frequently spawned large rebel stacks? Reading the forums, it seems players would have a far more "rewarding" experience if they were to slow down on inflicting punishment on enemy factions. However, sitting there in your settlements and reading the texts of the various buildings or units while gleefully anticipating larger tax yields would get tedious after a while. A player plays M2TW for the action of commanding armies in real-time, so "training" your units and generals on actually dangerous rebel stacks would give that thrill, combined with acquiring possible better traits for your favorite officer, while not disrupting the political balance.

The randomly-spawning "bandit" setting in the descr_strat is already pretty high. Short of turning this up, there's not much more can be done without some ridiculously overworked scripting to make Rebels appear. If you want to encourage them to, turn your tax levels up to make more settlements have yellow or blue faces, that encourages Rebel spawns.

On the "assimilation" thing, what I mean is that unless you've butchered the population of a particular settlement, holding it with anything less than 5 regiments should be impossible. For a period of 2 decades from the time it was conquered, it should be unlikely to have a citizenry with "green" levels of contentment. Unless the governor is extremely competent OR the new administration is of the local people's culture, revolts must happen in that town. This will slow down rapid invasion and provide possible new enemies for the player to test his skill on.

In 2.2d, the settlement mechanics have been altered to be trickier (including unrest from "famine"), and there are some additional features that don't make it quite so easy. However, the garrison order setting is a very blunt measure that can't be meaningfully finessed in any way (it's fixed against population size), there is no way we can set it to "requires a full stack here to keep order". Order is very sensitive, if we tinker too much you end up with lots of places that are simply impossible to hold for factions too divergent from the initial culture. That's already the case for large cities for certain factions.

[Roma_Victrix]

I have but one suggestion: kindly put xHolyCrusader's new barbarian city battle map model into the next release, please. Otherwise, lag. Terrible, game-crippling lag. We're talking 0.5 or maybe 1 frame per second during a siege.

[QuintusSertorius]

I have but one suggestion: kindly put xHolyCrusader's new barbarian city battle map model into the next release, please. Otherwise, lag. Terrible, game-crippling lag. We're talking 0.5 or maybe 1 frame per second during a siege.

That's hundreds of MB of stuff, far too big for a patch. You'll have to wait for 2.3 for those, I'm afraid.

[Barnabas]

I stumbled upon this in forum posted by Visarion from 2012 about improving Getai as faction. It has almost no specific traits, no reforms or missions nor any governments beyond some generic type I, II, III kind of governments right now. You notice after playing Carthage or Pahlava for example. Can any of this be assessed by the team and marked by implementation? (when the manpower priority reaches it as the team sees fit)

Quoting Visarion's post on Getai Reforms thread:
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1 - priest

2 - counselor

3 - general

1) Tarabostes - Disciple - Priest - Kapnobatai - Ktistai - Polistai - High Priest

2) Tarabostes - Tribal Leader - Governor - Elected Counselor - Royal Adviser - Counselor of State - Great Judge

3) Tarabostes - Infantrist, Cavalrist, (Infantry Captain - Cavalry Captain - Artillery Captain) Captain, (Infantry Commander, Cavalry Commander, Artillery Commander) Commander, General, Warlord

() means optional...

1) Tarabostes - disciple (+1 influence) - priest ( +2 influence, +5 public order) - kapnobatai (+3 influence + 1 management +10 public order) - ktistai (+4 influence +2 management + 1 command when commanding infantry + 1 morale for all troops on the battlefield +15 public order) - polistai (+5 influence + 3 management + 1 command + 2 morale for all troops on the battlefield +20 public order) - high priest (+6 influence + 4 management + 2 command + 3 morale for all troops on the battlefield + 25 public order)

2) Tarabostes - tribal leader (+1 influence + 1 management) - governor (+1 influence + 1 management + 5% on all trades + 5 to law - 5% construction costs +1 farming output) - elected counselor (+2 influence + 2 management + 10% on all trades + 10 to law - 10% construction costs +2 farming output)- royal adviser (+3 influence + 3 management + 1 command +15% on all trades + 15 to law - 15% construction costs +3 farming output) - counselor of state (+4 influence + 4 management + 2 command + 20% on all trades + 20 to law - 20% construction costs + 4 farming output) - great judge (+5 influence + 5 management + 2 command + 25% on all trades + 25 to law - 25% construction costs + 5 farming output)

3) Tarabostes - infantrist (+1 influence), cavalrist (+2 influence) [infantry captain (+2 influence + 1 when commanding infantry) - cavalry captain (+3 influence +1 when commanding cavalry) - artillery captain (+3 influence +1 when attacking walls + ... siege points - 5% construction costs)] - captain (+3 influence, + 1 command + 1 when attacking -5% unit recruitment cost) - [infantry commander (+3 influence + 2 when commanding infantry) - cavalry commander (+4 influence +2 when commanding cavalry) - artillery commander (+4 influence +2 when attacking walls, +1 when defending + ... siege points - 15% construction costs)] - commander (+4 influence, + 2 command + 2 when attacking - 15% unit recruitment cost) - general (+5 influence, + 3 command + 3 when attacking - 25% unit recruitment cost + 1 management), warlord ((+6 influence, + 4 command + 4 when attacking - 30% unit recruitment cost + 2 management) you can add reductions at retrainig costs too if different from recruitment...

anyway these are optional and made only to give you a clue of how they should be... you can decide upon what each function gives...

oh and about other traits and retinue I think my last post is evocative for this purpose... treasurer, merchant, decorated hero, farmer, farming manager, mercenary captain, philosopher, doctor or medicine man, mathematician, architect, engineer, siege engineer, inventor, infantry, cavalry, artillery captain, wise man, scribe, judge, priest of... , follower of..., honest, hero of the people, extravagant, stoic, jeweler, diplomat, counselor, adviser, blacksmith, miner, hermit, governor, loved by the people, charismatic, shy, blood thirsty, likes the site of blood, man of honor, wild, savage, lives with the wolves, fearless, believes in immortality, good husband, beautiful wife, healthy wife, healthy, brave, in the pink, scarred, marks of war, been in wars, trustworthy, loyal, strong, rage, silent, enclosed, artist, superstitious, believes in faith, practical, realist, logician, astrologist, magician, shepherd, cattle herder, bee farmer, merchant, agriculturalist, horse trainer, keeper of horses, weapon smith, blacksmith, constructor, mason, carpenter, armorer, fisher, slave ... Roman, Greek etc. turncoat, hunting dog, hunter, naturalist, keeper of gates, attacker, defender, siege expert, siege engineer, good ambusher, excellent ambusher, courageous, joins battles, trusted by the people, fights alongside his people, likes a drink, drunkard, viticulture expert, wine maker, geographer, historian, poet, musician, slave, wine, jewels, precious metals, weapons, grain, wood etc. merchant, hero of the people, great judge, high priest, godlike, deified especially for priests, fountain of knowledge, fountain of wisdom, secretive etc.

Above I wrote both traits for family members and followers of their retinue...

well I wrote something of the political structure, defensive and offensive tactics, beliefs, knowledge, way of life etc. but I must check my e-mails...

Edit: the idea was that a Tarabostes could be priest, warrior and in the same time counselor or governor. A faction leader could be a warlord, great priest and great judge but not necessarily because like in the case of Burebista, Decenu was the great priest... it's late and I can't put my thoughts in words but I think you got my point...

found something... but only an older sketch...


Burebista was the first king of the Dacians that wasn't only a warlord. He was a true king and was the first to unite the most of the Dacian tribes. He conquered the Greek ports from Pontus Euxinus, drove the Celts away from Dacian territory and occupied much of Thrace. Even if some say he united all Dacian tribes the truth is that many remained independent: some Carpians, a large part of the Costoboci, all Tyragetae and others. After Burebista was assassinated by the Romans in 44 BC his family divided the kingdom into smaller states, each son, nephew and grandson becoming a lesser king. Decebal was the second Dacian great king to unite much of the tribes. He had many allies: Roxolani, Batarnae etc. He won against Domitian and the Roman Empire paid tribute to him until Trajan declared war to the Dacians.

Form of government:

Military democracy

Power divided by:

Kingship (king and his royal counsellors)

Council of nobles

Assembly of free men

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Right now it's hard for the player to even choose properly between choosing governments for Sarmasfasfjn city because descriptions of them are lacking. It is not clear at all how installing specific governments affects people living in there and I think this is more important when playing a faction compared to what units the government can give or other practical bonuses for people playing that faction. (or in most circumstances)

Summary:
-Please give immediate priority to current Getai Factional Government descriptions
-Make historians assess the information in the post and get it marked of implementation if it is fit for the mod for Getai improvement when there is manpower to dedicate to this specific task (eventually there will be if the content is fit and good enough)

[Kaskad]

Just 2 suggestions for the future:
_ a garrison script, in order to boost the AI: it does not protect its cities properly, making conquests quite easy for the player. A stack of 1st tier units spawns when besieging a city not well garrisoned. This stack represents the people of the area in a last attempt to defend their polis against invaders
_ a script popping every time the king of a faction dies